1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printer-incorporated electronic still camera that may be switched over between a photography mode, a reproduction mode, a print mode and a setup mode by operating a mode selection device. More particularly, the printer-incorporated electronic still camera of the present invention is provided a with a display device that functions as an electronic viewfinder in the photography mode, displays a photographed still image in the reproduction mode and the print mode, and displays setup items in the setup mode.
2. Background Arts
Portable electronic still cameras are widely known, that obtain electronic images from optical images of subjects through an imaging device, such as a CCD image sensor, and stores the electronic images in a memory in the form of digital image data. Also an electronic still camera having a printer incorporated therein has been known. An example of this type of electronic still camera is disclosed in JPA 11-127409, wherein a self-developing type photo film sheet, called an instant film, is used as a recording medium for printing an image thereon, so an optical printer is driven based on the image data read out from the memory, to photograph or optically record an image on the instant film.
The printer-incorporated electronic still camera has an LCD panel that displays an image reproduced based image data read out from the memory in a reproduction mode, so that the user may select an appropriate image to print while observing the LCD panel. The LCD panel functions as an electronic viewfinder that displays moving images of photographic subjects in a real time fashion in a photography mode. In a setup mode for setting up various items, e.g. the number of prints to make from a picture frame, the LCD panel is also used for displaying setup menus.
However, because the printer-incorporated electronic still camera is desired to be as compact as the camera without printer, but doubles as a still camera and a printer, there are so large number of setup items including those relating to the photography and to the printing, that it is difficult to display all the items in the same screen on the small LCD panel.